Re: Huntation, coming soon!
So I think the main point here, for those who are howling about similarity to Super Egg Hunt, is just this. At this stage, at least, the similarities are big. Here, I'll explain.
If you experience pokemon in the mainstream, and then you make a game called Manamon (your own code, your own creatures, but literally dozens of parallels with a mainstream game), that's definitely grounds for being called a concept clone. Your code is your own, your ideas are your own but borrowed very, very heavily from a pre-existing source. This has obviously been done before, and we all know how that went. The game had good points and bad points, but one thing to note is that pretty much no one knew it existed till the game was completed.
Now you have Judgment Day. Note first how it isn't called something like Space Intruders, that's a pretty good start. It borrows the mechanics of a Space Invaders-style game, but as Liam pointed out, has other things in it. Is it the world's most original idea? No it's not. Is it the same level of borrowing/concept cloning as Manamon? To my eyes, not at all.
Now, this Huntation (silly name, IMHO, but whatever) falls into the Manamon camp, at least at this point. It's especially egregious because as Liam pointed out, this is, in fact, one of the concepts he came up with on his own. So you are not borrowing from the mainstream, you're borrowing straight from an audiogame developer, conceptually speaking. At this stage, it feels lazy. And yes, if I'd seen Liam's very first concept demo of Judgment Day (as in, before upgrades, before storyline, before mini-games) I might have felt the same way.
Borrowing from the mainstream is to some degree unavoidable. A lot of stuff has just been done before, and it works. You are not a horrible, awful person if you prefer concept cloning. At worst, I think you're kind of lazy (one of my main criticisms of Manamon, which literally feels like pokemon red and blue for like the first quarter of the game in particular). When you up the ante by doing the same thing from an original concept from an audiogame developer, it looks even worse, at least to my eye. Again, you're not a horrible person, but...seriously? Why this idea? Why this concept? Does the community really need another concept clone of Super Egg Hunt? Hey, maybe it does...but I don't know.
So at this point I understand why people are bristling. I get it.
If it's me, here's what I do.
1. Change the concept from hunting whatever to trying to salvage things from an asteroid field. The timer is because it's full of radiation (maybe it's fairly close to a large star or something?) and your timer is based on how tough your ship is.
2. Instead of a chicken (roar, space chicken!!!), use a space pirate, alien craft or alien life form. Maybe that craft's behaviour can change as the game goes on; at first it starts out just by moving around and trying to bump into you to make you lose time, but eventually it starts firing slow-ish heat-seeking missiles which follow you around (you move faster than the missiles do, but several can be on screen at once).
3. Multiple kinds of power-ups. One will make your ship a little faster for a few seconds. One will freeze the other ship in place (targeted EMP pulse?). One will temporarily make your hull invulnerable so you can bash the other ship. Make the other ship take different numbers of hits based on difficulty/game mode, but once it's gone, it's gone. One power-up will essentially replenish your radiation shield so that you have a little more time to salvage. All sorts of possibilities here.
4. Game modes. In one, ships appear on the grid slowly rather than there just being one, but they're all without missiles and can be destroyed in one hit; they've been salvaging as well so when you destroy them, they spray their cargo all over the grid. In another mode, there are stationary items (asteroids? planets? something or other) which are set on timers and will explode; if you're too close when they do, you take damage (lose time). But when these things explode, they spray salvageable debris, so the aim is to stay away from things going boom and collect the results after explosions. In yet another game mode, something has happened to your ship's propulsion systems and you're moving at approximately double speed. Sounds great, right? Well, maybe not, because although it means you can collect cargo more quickly, it also means that if you bump into the other hostile ship, it's instant game over. Just a few thoughts there.
5. Multiple classes of ship. Maybe one moves a little faster but gives you slightly less time (weaker shields). Maybe one is a little slower but bulkier (more shields, more time, slightly harder to collect cargo). Or hell, what about an upgrade shop? Turn in your salvage for things like better radiation shields, better upgrade spawns, etc.
6. Or, if that sounds too easy, then tie that to an achievements system. Make it so achievements award a sort of currency (points, coins, whatever), and use -those to purchase upgrades. Set it up so that a player can never max all the upgrades and must choose what they want, but give them an ability to reset those bonuses at any time so they can respect as needed. Having to re-earn the same achievements is a little dull.
And there you have it. Slightly similar concept, far, far different execution.
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